Strings that Bind
by clear-skyz
Summary: AU!  A lot of things change over time. Alas, the change doesn't stop there. In fact, it never did. It never will. So how well can one cope with that change?


**DO NOT OWN AND ALL THAT JAZZ!**

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><p><strong>Arrival [Train Ride &amp; A Lane Not Recalled]<strong>

A tall pale teen stands at the main train station, holding his traveling bags (one bag and one backpack, to be exact) near him and sighs.

He's a bit overdressed for this areas weather - long dark pants, sneakers and a jacket (thankfully he had a short sleeved shirt under it, so his jacket hung over his bag the moment he stepped out of the train) - and no possibility to change until he gets to a certain address he has just a vague idea of where it could be.

The last time he lived here, he was seven-ish - and a lot of things change in ten years.

Oh, well, one should take this kind of things into consideration when arriving two days earlier than announced and forgetting to watch the weather broadcast for the next day.

Recapping his water bottle, he walks through the door and goes along a familiar path down the street.

So far, so good; he remembers the main streets vividly since they all stayed the same (more or less). He turned right on a crossing and entered an area he didn't really recall, but he found a local shop two streets down and stopped.

"Welcome!" An elderly kind looking woman smiled when he entered the store, smiling and nodding in response.

"How may I help you?" The woman asked pleased with his polite manners.

"Yes, I will need a pack of paper tissues and a bottle of water, please."

"Certainly-" She then stopped a little when she took a good look at the young male, recalling somewhere in her memory that she had seen those eyes before - those same eyes wandered in here once before, in company of another to bring over some sweets.

"...madam?" The teen's voice broke her train of thoughts, sounding much more mature now. "Is something the matter?"

"Oh, my, I'm sorry..." She smiled again. "...forgive me, but, could you be Sai?"

Hearing his name, Sai's head snapped in her direction, a memory flashing in his eyes.

"...grandma Sachi?" He asked uncertainly, yet relaxed when the woman smiled again. "You haven't changed a bit." He said.

"Oh, come now." The woman laughed. "You are just saying that."

"I mean it." He replied. The elderly woman _really_ looked the same - save for laugh wrinkles around her eyes and two gray locks of hair on the side - everything else stayed the same. She still had that gentle smile and made him feel at ease. Sure, it was ten years ago he last saw her, but she was a person one doesn't forget easily.

She asked him a few things in general and by the end of their conversation, he got a ten years worth fill in to the situation. At least he wasn't the clueless now. Grandma Sachi gave him more accurate directions to his destination and they bid farewell.

Turning right at the next corner, he saw three figures standing by a bench at a park.

Quite the colorful one, he concluded, but payed no further attention.

A blond and black haired one and..._pink?..._whatever.

Suddenly the blonde got one over his ears when Sai didn't look and the raven haired guy just sighed in indifference and turned his gaze to Sai's direction just as he was checking the direction grandma Sachi wrote him down.

The raven head's eyes widened as he was the pale boy walk down the street and his rather unusual behavior of showing surprise caused the two "fighting" (the blond guy was just trying to keep his head attached to his shoulders while the pink one shook him) to slow down and then completely stop and have their jaws drop and hit the floor at the next scene.

"SAI!" The addressed male looked up just in time to be tackled (yes, _tackled_) by the raven. "...Sasuke...?" He muttered confused as a smile made its way of its own on his lips. The raven moved away from him.

"Man, it's been ages!" Sasuke said. "Weren't you supposed to arrive the day after tomorrow?"

"The preparations were dealt with earlier, so I could leave as soon as I got my passport." He explained, putting his bag on the ground. "I hope I'm not causing any trouble with this..."

"Nah, I wasn't even home since this morning so I probably missed the word." Sasuke smiled. "Anyway, welcome. Come on, I'll help you with this." He grabbed the bag from the ground and they started walking past the two stoned figures.

"Oh, before I forget..." Sasuke halted. "These two are Sakura and Naruto. And this situation is more or less a standard for them."

Sai blinked at them and then smiled while reaching out his hand. "Nice to meet you, I'm Sai."

The two short circuited figures automatically reached out their hands. A quick shake and Sai was back to following Sasuke to his home. "So, how did you manage to get here?"

"I met grandma Sachi on my way..."

"Then I guess you're pretty much familiar with everything..."

*.*.*.*

"Nii-san! Tadaima!" Sasuke called from the front door, kicking his shoes off.

"Ojamashimasu." Sai said in a much quieter voice.

"Welcome home..." His brother came to greet them, carrying a cup of tea while he stirred it. "How was your trip, Sai?"

"It was fine - just the weather was a bit surprising. I didn't think it would be this hot here..."

"I imagine..." Itachi said as he looked at Sai in long pants when even he wore three quarters. "Get up stairs and change you two, mom will be here in about an hour."

"Okay." Sasuke put away the shoes and Sai followed him upstairs.

Sai remembered that the upstairs were like a small maze with many doors. A great place to play hide and seek but a pain to manage when spring cleaning arrived. Two summers ago, they actually found a stack of paintings no one remembered how they got there in the first place.

He was now standing on the last stair utterly confused by the arrangement.

"Remember the renovation I told you about last summer?" Sasuke asked, leaned against the rail.

"Yeah..." Sai was quite sure where he was going with this.

"Well, the thing was, mom was fed up with endless small rooms up here and she decided to make them bigger." He said as they walked down the corridor. "So now we have my room, niisan's room and two guest rooms. She planned adding a third room but then decided to break the wall, add this rail here and make a small living room for when nii-san's or my guests arrive. Or both."

Yep, the story covered the picture he was looking at. Mikoto-san sure had ideas. He liked the change. It had more room and lots of light. ..._maybe he could set his canvas here_...

"At the end of August, she decided to move the main house to the other building, since it was far more roomy and silent and frankly she was at utter loss as to why _this_ was the main house in the first place."

"So basically," Sai added, "you and Itachi stay here for most part and your parents in the main house."

"Yes." Sasuke deadpanned. "We got our own place and didn't even have to hit puberty to get some 'privacy' around here." Sasuke made quotation marks in the air with his fingers. "I still have no idea how she managed to tame the yard behind the main house, it was literally a forest. I can only suppose what it looked like, but I don't think I'm that curious."

"Your last summer was quite eventful."

'_You have no idea._' Sasuke thought as he pushed himself off the rail and reached one of the guest rooms. "Do you want the other one or will you go with this one?" He asked as he opened the door.

"This will do." Sai nodded. Usually, when Sasuke asked him a question like this, he was sure he had good reasons to. So Sai learned to accept the offer.

"Good choice." The raven smiled. The room he picked were next to his own, and opposite the living room.

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><p>I feel so useless.<p>

I hope my writers block ends with this.

At least I passed math x3


End file.
